


Charles the Fire-Tamer

by Whitescruffydog



Series: Avowed Disharmony [1]
Category: X-Men (Movieverse)
Genre: AtLA AU, Fire Lord!Erik, M/M, Starts majestic, Water Chief!Charles, dissolves into nonsense, fluff with a side of serious
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-07
Updated: 2016-12-19
Packaged: 2018-09-07 01:23:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8777527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Whitescruffydog/pseuds/Whitescruffydog
Summary: The Fire Nation may be attacking, but that doesn't mean that Charles plans to fight with violence tonight.  But fire is dangerous in all of its forms, and there is more than one way to be dangerous.Second snapshot has been added.





	1. Arrival

**Author's Note:**

> As usual, based on a roleplay with a friend

The fog rolled lazily on the horizon.

Charles Xavier watched carefully, honed mastery of his element informing him that the phenomenon was abnormal, likely signaling incoming Fire Nation ships.

Charles calmly drank his tea.

The southern Water Tribe was prepared, and there was no reason to cause panic. 

\/\/

It took a night, but then the sun glittered off the metal hulls, and Scott declared that war was upon them.

\/\/

The children were herded away from the shore, the warriors lined up, the ships loomed ever closer and still, Charles sat, watching, waiting, for his chance to end the battle as peacefully as possible.

Then, as the first flame flew, he rose, and too soared the water, colliding betwixt the opposing armies with all the force of roaring tornado.

His army ducked briefly, raising their arms as torrents of heated water tore upon them, but then they stood tall in the face of fire.

\/\/

As smoke and ice and everything between danced their ecstatic dance and his army scattered, Charles wrapped himself in his element, and dove into the chaos.

On the fringe he found his target:  the Fire Lord, standing proudly, his face bearing the well-worn expression of one who knew his path of action was true, regardless of how little glee he took in it.  

With nary a flick, the personal wave beneath Charles buckled; a controlled fall.  Both he and the water sprinkled to the ground before the exalted Fire Lord, Charles straightening into a neutral position as the water sizzled uncertainly. 

“Fire Lord,” Charles greeted, humbly but firm.

“Hn,” the Fire Lord returned, arrogant and tenacious.

“To what do we owe your visit?” Charles asked, as the world smoldered behind him.

“Business,” the Fire Lord mocked, the ocean serene behind him. 

They stood, two pillars of vastly different origin and culture, two pillars amidst a land aghast of war, and yet, they stood, two pillars, in peace, momentarily. 

\/\/

“Would you like to conduct your business with tea?” Charles had asked, after the silence had drowned the war between them.

“Consider it your nation’s last request,” the Fire Lord had sneered, but only the pain of a lifetime past had shown through to Charles.

And they retreated, around the war, around the debris, around the pain and agony of a hundred soldiers locked in combat, and sat, and had tea, and Charles watched.

And the more Charles watched, the more confident he became that this war could be ended without another fight. 

\/\/

“My name is Erik,” the Fire Lord declared quietly, during one turn of Pai Sho, answering a question Charles asked long ago. 

“Erik,” Charles grinned widely, the game momentarily forgotten, “what brings you to our settlement?”

“Hn,” Erik replied. 

“The invading forces have been driven off successfully, Chief— _why are you having tea with the Fire Lord?_ ” Scott opened the tent and froze in horror.

Charles couldn’t resist the urge to laugh.

\/\/

Erik stood bitterly at the water’s edge, glaring out at _his_ ships that decided to leave without something very important.  Occasionally, a waft of smoke would twirl carelessly from his mouth.  

Many paces behind, Charles stood, his loyal army behind him, where Scott finally found the opportunity to lecture him. 

“What were you thinking?”

“I was thinking to end the war—sacrificing the battle, if necessary.”  It pained Charles to think of his community as a means to an end, but if in the long run it saved lives…

“We can end the war right now,” Logan growled, ice spiking from his knuckles in a peculiar style he dubbed wolverine-badger. 

“No,” Charles said softly, extending an arm to barricade Logan’s path, and the ice blades dripped to the ground, dispersed by a superior master.  “That is never the answer, and some armies may fall when their leader does, but some of them rise stronger than ever.” 

Erik sunk a few inches, the ice near him curling away with the force of his anger.  He carefully withdrew himself from the steadily growing deathtrap (Charles ignored Logan’s “damn”) and turned around, brushing past them back into the village.

Scott and Logan donned equivalent expressions of disgust as their gazes followed him.

Charles coughed quietly, “I suppose I have a game to finish.”

“Shouldn’t have started it at all,” Scott muttered, frowning and shaking his head.

“Stop befriending everyone that tries to attack you,” Logan muttered, ignoring the irony of the statement.

\/\/

“Everyone will either conform or die,” Erik said solemnly, a burning passion seeping through his voice, “And no one liked the first option, so I’ve begun to default to the second.”

“I see…,” Charles encouraged him gently, and folded his hands, refusing to take his turn.

“And yourself?” Erik redirected, instead, though his very person screamed boredom.

“I don’t like war.  It doesn’t have to be this way.”  Even if the target was the Fire Lord.

“Oh, you’re one of _those_ people.”  The Fire Lord’s gaze darkened, and he shifted into a more defensive position.

“The world is not as terrible as you think it is,” Charles attempted carefully, prodding deeper.

“Perhaps not.  But I can make it better, even if I have to burn it to the ground first.”  Erik’s fist clenched tightly as the candle beside them flared dangerously.

Charles mourned for the damaged man before him as the sounds of Fire Nation horns blared outside.

\/\/

The Water Tribe gathered cautiously, ready for another battle, but the Fire Lord Erik stepped out between the opposing armies, and with a raise of his arm, called off the attack.

The firebenders shifted, with some confusion, from an offensive stance to a formal parade rest.  They looked uncertain, and rightly so, most of the waterbenders conceded, the Fire Lord looked extremely displeased. 

“Before you is the southern Water Tribe, who, by your dishonor, has won the battle here today.  Behind me is their Chief, Charles Xavier, who I will eventually marry,” the Fire Lord announced.

The firebenders murmured indistinctly but ultimately looked nonplussed. 

“I what” Charles stuttered as Erik continued his speech. 

"What exactly did you do in that tent, Chuck?"  Logan snickered, momentarily forgetting his stigma against Erik to laugh at his chief.

“Peace was achieved, but at what cost?” Alex lamented humorously.

“You should have just fought the war,” Scott added humorlessly. 

“We’re staying, for now,” they heard Erik state in response to a question, “Indefinitely.”  Another pause, “Because I want to.”  The firebenders orderly retreated into their ships, which, to the dismay of virtually everyone present, remained docked. 

\/\/

“Two of these ships will remain here, as a threat,” Erik said steely, remarkably composed for a man who had just recently admitted they lost the battle. 

“A…threat,” Charles repeated, tone lowering with his gaze to fall into an incredulous stare.  “I’m confused, was the marriage the threat?”

“No, that will happen regardless.”  Erik drank his tea carelessly.

“…Oh sweet baby tiger seals, you’re not joking.”  Charles ran a hand down his face.

“I am not a joking man,” Erik agreed.

“You can’t marry someone you just met,” Charles protested.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Charles, I said eventually.”

\/\/

“What are you going to do now, Charles?” Raven asked, as they finished the ceremonies for the deceased and rebuilding that which was lost.

“Apparently marry the Fire Lord.”  Charles still hadn’t quite wrapped his mind around that declaration.

“About time.”

“Raven!” 

“Are you just going to let him leave his eyesores on the northeastern shore?” She questioned, ignoring his scolding. 

“He prefers the term threats, and I suppose so, we don’t do anything with the land anyways.” Charles frowned, considering the repercussions of that action.  They were good at keeping to themselves—minus the Fire Lord himself, anyways—and they hardly noticed they were there.

“Whatever you say, Water Lord.”

“…Don’t you even.  I would honestly appreciate it if this community would stop mocking and start helping me.”  He rubbed his forehead.

“This community virtually unanimously agrees that you got yourself into this problem.”  Raven crossed her arms.  She trusted him thoroughly, but however much they may joke about the situation, it was a very dire issue.

\/\/

“The world would never be at peace if errors could not be overlooked,” Charles had replied, when Erik had asked him how he was able to step aside and talk to said Fire Lord while his people fought and died.  That wasn’t to say he didn’t feel the pang of grief of those that laid their lives down in what was ultimately a pointless battle.

“Peace was never an option.” Erik idly spun a coin withdrawn from his armor. Charles recognized it to be from the northern Water Tribes, but did not comment. 

“What lead you to war, Erik?” Charles said, measured and careful, yet strong.

“Revenge,” Erik stated harshly.

Charles did not forgive the man before him for the horrors he caused, but he understood. 

And he grieved.

\/\/

“You could flee to the Northern Tribe,” Scott suggested, discussing what they would do after the Fire Lord left. 

“Or the Earth Kingdom,” Logan suggested instead, immediately. 

“No one’s running away to anywhere,” Charles ended that discussion immediately, just in time for Erik to exit Charles’s tent.

“I will make my departure, now,” he announced, as if they actually cared.

“Do you want applause?  Because you’re going to get applause,” Logan snapped, surprisingly chaste.       

Erik sneered at the boorish brute, as he had taken to calling the man, brushing past them with the same disrespect he always had.

Charles nodded to his comrades and bowed himself out of their conversation and opted to follow Erik to the shore.

“Have you come to offer me more of your Charles-isms?  Because I can assure you each one is cherished,” Erik drawled in a tone that implied the exact opposite.

“Don’t talk to your fiancé that way,” Charles said, harnessing much of the hostility Erik had thrown at him since his arrival.

Erik bristled, but made no movie to retaliate.

“I’m guessing you’ve spoken to Raven, by that.  And the answer is yes.  A word of advice about invading the rest of the world:  don’t.”  Charles hadn’t managed to get more than some vague indication of what Erik was planning and why.

They continued their walk in not-uncomfortable silence.

\/\/

“They actually are quite magnificent,” Charles said, glancing up at the colossal warships at the closest distance he had ever been.

“They’re a threat, Charles,” Erik stubbornly repeated once again.

“Yes, Erik, I know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a very long time since I watched the show, so details are very likely to be inaccurate, I apologize.  
> This is actually just a snapshot of a much larger universe (that may or may not ever make it to words), but this meeting was what I felt like writing at the time--the closest I get to plotless fluff.


	2. Coronation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is more "serious with a side of fluff"

“Why is the Firelord marrying our chief?” a waterbender asked, carefully sitting across from a firebender as they engaged in a game of Pai Sho. 

“I don’t know,” he admitted cautiously, making his move.

Though the two nations were in a fragile truce, not all was forgiven between, and a great many in both nations were curious about the wedding that had led to it. 

“Why are you fighting a war?” the waterbender asked instead.

The firebender paused, holding a piece in midair.

_“Look at what we’ve built!”  Johann Schmidt declared, to the cheers of the crowd.  “Soon, no one will stand in our way!  Not the waterbenders who seek to extinguish us, not the earthbenders that want to steal our soil, and not the airbenders who look down upon us!”  The crowd cheered further as he placed the ceremonial helmet on his head._

“We fight for a lot of things,” he decided, sorrow twinkling in his eyes.

\---|\/\/|

“Why is the Firelord marrying Charles?” Scott asked, confrontationally blocking John from coming further into their territory.

“The Firelord does a lot of things,” he shrugged, scanning for a way around Scott.

Though the two nations were in a fragile truce, not all was forgiven between, and a great many in both nations were curious and concerned about the wedding that had led to it.

“Why are you fighting a war?” Scott demanded instead.

John paused, tilting his head in thought.

_“Many years have passed since the Great War,” Jakob Lehnsherr declared, watching the sorrowful crowd.   “The airbenders and everyone sacrificed a great lot to end the war, and our tyranny, and this we should be thankful for.  To a peaceful and prosperous Fire Nation!”  The crowd cheered and shed the past as he placed the ceremonial helmet on his head._

“To make things right,” he decided, pushing past Scott.

\---|\/\/|

“Why is the Firelord marrying a Water Chief?” Charles asked, pushing Erik onto his bed. 

Though the two nations were in a fragile truce, Erik was still fairly rude to everyone, and Charles was curious, concerned, and intrigued by the bizarre declaration that led to it.

Erik paused, halted in his tirade about Charles’s inferior bedding.

_“When I was a little girl,” Edie started, fixing Erik’s clothing for an important meeting, “I was wandering the icecaps of my tribe, and I spotted a coin trapped in the ice.  It was beautiful, and I wanted to show it to my parents, and in my attempts to retrieve it, I discovered I was a waterbender.  I hope this coin brings you as much luck as it did me.” Erik looked up in curiosity as she placed a Northern Water Tribe coin in his palm._

“You remind me of my mother,” Erik mumbled, both eager and reluctant to reveal himself to Charles. 

“Why are you fighting a war?” Charles pressed.

Erik paused again, rolling over to face Charles.

_Erik backed away in fear as the very air trembled and colossal tidal waves crashed onto the shore of the Fire Nation, nary more than a child.  Erik watched as the very people his mother called friends surrounded them, binding them, and dragging them into the throne room.  A man stood, named Klaus Schmidt, and mocked Erik, “Little Fire Prince, what is it you can do?”_

_Erik stood in shocked silence, glancing over to stare at his mother._

_“Everything will be fine,” she whispered encouragingly._

_Erik fire burned softly._

_“Disappointing,” Shaw stated, and Edie suffocated._

_Erik’s rage burned brightly, but it was nothing against an army of waterbenders._

_“It is time for your kingdom to pay for the death and destruction it caused,” Klaus declared.  “For too long you have prospered and grew in the seeds of your slaughter upon the rest of the world, and it ends today.”  The silence rang louder than any cheers could as he placed the ceremonial helmet on his head._

“For revenge,” Erik reiterated, pulling Charles to his chest. 

\---|\/\/|

“Why is your chief marrying the Fire Lord?” the firebender asked, the game forgotten.

“Why is your chief marrying the Fire Lord?”  John asked, stopping to look at Scott.

“Why are you marrying me?” Erik asked, trembling against him. 

“The chief is a good, wise man who only wants to help,” the waterbender responded, folding her arms in her lap.

“Charles always does what is right, even if it brings him pain later,” Scott responded, frowning with the past left bare.

“There is good in you,” Charles sighed, feeling the shivering through their clothes.

“Why aren’t you stopping us?” the firebender returned.

“Why aren’t you stopping us?” John asked.

“Why aren’t you stopping me?” Erik mumbled.

_“They came to us, after years of peace, and destroyed our homes, our family, and our honor,” Erik Lehnsherr declared.  “They said it was us who will pay, when truly, it is them—the waterbenders who betrayed us, and the airbenders who looked down on us.  We will never be weak again!” The crowd cheered as he placed the ceremonial helmet on his head._

“I don’t know,” the waterbender admitted.

“I wish I knew,” Scott muttered.

“I am,” Charles declared.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well it was supposed to be a oneshot, but. This was thrown together quickly during a moment of inspiration, so some mistakes may have been made.   
> For more information about what happened in the past, consider reading "No One's Here to Sleep."


End file.
